Play,

Today there is new fiber play, Bear gifted me a vintage loomette for my birthday - so I have been playing. Like any new toy there is the initial flush of interest - which in this case resulted in a mini blanket. I've also finished Bears new hat, a redux of Hope he never needs this in exactly the same yarns. Bears new job requires more site visits so a safety hat seemed called for - to go with the safety vest. Photos will be made once Bear is home wearing the hat. Till then you just have my word.

The loomette is great fun, you may have seen an article in Piecework April/May 2010 or come across the website Eloomanation, which provides more details and detailed scans of the original instructions. My loomette is in nice condition, no rust, original box but no needle or instructions. Instructions are easy to find at Eloomanation or on you tube, and 6" blunt needles at Lacis. I was up and weaving easily. Of course it was the fourth or fifth square before I remembered the warping pattern without needing to reference the instructions. It's not as simple as a set of yarns laid across each other, there are three layers of yarns In a highly specific order, if done right one ends up weaving every second weft, not every weft.

I used vintage Purls sock yarn left overs from a recent project, and was surprised to see how open the weave was, and how much it closed when the squares were wet blocked. I have grid weaving on a rigid heddle loom, and on a four shaft table loom ... And I liked it. But found that I liked to touch the yarn more than one gets to in weaving. With the mini loom and sewing the weft yarns into place the yarn is touched and felt ... Not as much fun as knitting, but something I'm keen to explore over time.

All in all I made 16 squares with a plain weave, and another two with "fancy" weaves. Then I stitched them together, not using the method in the original instruction book but using a modified mattress stitch from the Eloomanation site.

Excuse the crumpled sample, it has been spending time in the bottom of my knit basket, I love this fabric, its lite and drapes well. The weave is open -but that is why it drapes so well. The seams leave a lot to be desired, I see why many people use crotchet to join the squares, what you can't hide emphasize.
What I don't understand is why this would have been promoted as a way to make garments ... Blankets, table linen, household cloths yes ... Skirts and jackets no. I guess my modern aesthetic is different to that of the early 20th century, or perhaps promoting was one thing, adoption of the ideas that were promoted another. Just like today's weird craft advts that try to sell ugly outcomes for valid materials and methods.

And finally a photo of the finished Sanquhar mitts, there is value in dating ones work. But these were started early 2012 and finished mid 2013 ... So the date seems optimistic to say the least.
I've got a wee backlog of projects to share, some baby mittens, and the frog pond socks, rather than make this post long I might try updates more frequently.
Take care, na Stella.

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Look! finished object!

Yes, a finished item of knitting, finished, and worn almost every day since I cast off and stitched buttons on. Finish objects mean that there is new blog content, or in this case the next project surfaces for needle time.

So here is my new favorite cardigan, I want another one, and then a third. Sock weight cardigans are my new favorite thing. I finished last Wednesday night, a week ago and have worn this most days since, I live the weight, the colour, the lace and the length. I've had several favorable comments, even one expressing surprise I could both knit and crochet! This is my favorite feature, the way the deep single rib hem pulls the waist in just a little and hugs the body creating a subtle waist effect.

There is no ease, negative or positive. The cardigan is the same measurement as I am so it sits nicely unbuttoned, and buttons up neatly with no weird pulling or bulging. I had an on again and off again relationship with the neck, planning it, testing it, worrying it was to low, to deep, too loose, hoping the ribbing would tighten it up .... and in the end the neck is perfect, sits just where I want it to. Not to low, not to high. I will have to revisit my notes and see if I have enough to recreate this shape in y next cardigan. Oh yes there will be another one ... And not to far way.

Which brings me to the next project, I dug the sanquhar mitts out of the work basket and knit. So far I am up to the end of the thumb gusset but ...

Yes there is a but, I was all confused about how to make this one a right, or was that a left? What confused me was how to are this one the opposite of the first mitt. The pattern is written with a symmetrical thumb gusset, but there is a date or initials box which is to sit on the inside wrist. On the first mitt the year fits just in the right place, on this mitt, the initials sit off past the wrist bone. Tonight I will frog and fix ....because if I don't the placement will always bug me.

And lastly buttons, knitters study group meet last Saturday to make Dorset buttons. I had more fun than I thought I would, these are a mix of sewn and crotcheted buttons. I can see more of these being made ... Dorset buttons might just be perfect for the next sock yarn cardigan. I always thought that hand sewn buttons had to be large and clumsy, but no,not always, these are less than 2cm across and delicate.

Take care, hope you have dry weather, we have had four or more days of heavy rain and I am ready for some sunshine, or at least some dry.

Na Stella

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Two weeks on leave and what do I have to show

Not much, we upgraded the computer through several operating systems, and got a new mouse - equivilent (Magic Trackpad) which I am still coming to terms with. Bear is an amateur historian in his non-working life, and like everything Bear does ... his research is at a level that I would consider appropriate for some one who is an academic. He has taken to using Google Maps to track confirm or eliminate the existance of early 20th Century Basil Hooper Houses in Auckland. Quite handy really as we live about 1400km from Auckland, but apparently an upgrade was needed to let him take advantage of the new-ist and best-ist features. So what you say, well this week seemed to disappear in cyclic sessions of installing new system software, waiting for the TimeCapsule back up to complete, then for the newest updates to load, then back up, before moving up to the next version. All in all a lot of time spent wandering into the room with the computer and seeing it still had to restart, or that it estimated that the next step would take 2 hours and 14 minutes, knowing all the time it was just one stage of many that needed to be done. All in all I'm pleased but a little nervous, usually software and system upgrades cause some sort of dilema or difficulty so I am still kind of waiting for the fall out on this one. the complete irony of this is that we upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard, then to Lion, just in time for Mountain Lion to be released this month so its not over yet. (Small note - just hit my first snag - the flickr uploader I use needs to be upgraded to work with the new OS .... please excuse me whilst I do that now, it shouldn't be long). 

Second Sanquhar mitt starts

I have been knitting, and frogging, and despite the frogging things are growing. I've cast on for the second of the Sanquhar mitts, and managed a few rounds. Luckily I keep rather good scribbled records so I knew what yarn I had used for the cast on and what cast on I had used. Given that I started mitt one way back on the 25th of February, I'm rather glad I keep a workbook of my knitting.

Knit One Below hat, squared decreases

I've also made good progress on the Knit-One-Below-Hat, and happily report to being half way through the crown decreases. I'm not really following a pattern, so the decreases were a little bit unplanned. I determined my stitch count was easily dividable by four, so decided to decrease at four points. The first trial was decreasing three stitches into one, at each of four points. If you have ever worked knit-one-below, the flaw in that plan may be obvious, but it wasn't to me. I just couldn't work out a neat method of maintaining the appearance of the knit-one-below fabric where the decreases were. So after a good 12 rounds, I'm not always quick at noticing when things are not going well, I frogged and started again with a new plan. The new plan seems to be working, based loosely on Jarad Floods Turn a Square Hat, I'm working eight decreases, two paired around four points.  So far so good, I'm keeping the knit-one-below pattern intact as far as I can by working the knit-one-below as part of the decrease when needed.

Matched Pairs of decreases in Knit-one-below fabric, 

Side body of my great grey cardigan

My plain grey cardigan seems nearly ready to do something else, I've worked over 6 inches of the body and am thinking that any row now I should switch to ribbing. I'm thinking 1x1 twisted ribbing, because I like the look of that and the drape, I'm not sure if I will go down a needle size or not. Probably not as I don't like cardigans and jerseys that pull in at the hem, much preferring  a nice swing to the hem.

Decisions, decisions, I do understand why most knitters follow patterns, they can select what something will look like, and then select similar yarn, follow instructions. I sometimes think that hand knitting is one of the slow-food styles of designing, in that the process is slow compared to may other crafts, and so decisions can have repercussions that involve more work, and more risk of frogging. Its easy to take a risk with a technique that might result in a frog 12 rounds of a smallish hat, not so easy to plunge into the same risk for a much larger body of knitting like a cardigan knit in sock yarn.

Feel free to leave advice on what I should do with the Grey cardigan hem, remembering I will be adding the crotchet lace from the Clair Cardigan to the neck, and there will be sleeve cuffs to match the body hem eventually.

na Stella

Inspired ...

This week I have been inspired by another knitter, something that happens all the time, when I see the knitters around me do clever beautiful things,when I see clever beautiful things on Ravelry and on blogs. This time it was a local knitter who has inspired me to finish and complete. As well I've been playing with my new hand carders, and making rolags, and I have that new project to introduce.

This is the project that inspired me, Kiwimoth from Ravelry gifted the youngest cub her Sanquhar mitts. Knitted in lace weight yarn, stranded, and on 1.25mm needles. The gauge is 13 stitches in 2cm, so 65 stitches in 10 cm or 4 inches, 17 stitches per inch - give or take. I am in awe, awe that Kiwimoth knit one, then two of these, awe that she gave them away! Her gift did inspire me to finish knitting mine, which has a gauge of 43 stitches in 10 cm or 4 inches, or 10 stitches to the inch. 

Here is the difference those seven extra stitches per inch make, on top Kiwimoths child sized mitt, underneath my more adult sized mitt.  One of the reasons I was dragging the chain on finishing mine was indecision. I didn't know if I wanted to make them gloves as the pattern was, I've never had a pair of gloves I felt comfortable in. I already had several pairs of mittens, and and to turn these into mittens seemed odd. When I saw how good Kiwimoths mitts looked, which she had finished with a teeny tiny picot edge ... I was inspired to do the same to mine.

I tried the picot edge, and it didn't really work.The top edge stretched, so I frogged and worked the picot again this time decreasing the facing stitches by a factor of 10%. I grafted the live stitches down .. but still the edge flared and the picot didn't sit on the edge. So I was in awe a third time that Kiwimoth had worked a picot edge at that gauge and had done so successfully. I frogged the top cuff back and worked a round of plain chocolate, then three rounds of single rib, then I worked two rounds of rib-slip to set up for a tubular cast off. I loved the final result, not as pretty as Kiwimoths, but neat and tidy.

I also spent some time playing with my hand carders, making little rolags. I turned a 100g  braid of soft silver grey Perendale from Vintage Purls into light sleek roalgs, and then spun a few.  I've played with long draw before, but not really felt in control of the process. After watching the two dvd's I bought I was convinced that like everything, success was reliant on good preparation. I have (Drafting the long and the short of it & How to card wool, as well as several books with instructions on carding it hand carders.   The thing about preparation seems true, because the silver grey rolags are a dream to spin.


I also visted you tube, and the most useful video I found was one by Hervorandweyland. Most videos and books told me the carding teeth should not touch, that they should skim over each other and not even mesh. I understood that to mean the teeth should just skim past each other, and I couldn't see how the fibre would be carded. This video shows the difference between a light hand with carding, where the teeth just brush past each other and meshing the teeth deep into each other (around the 2min mark), Seeing that made it clear to me that the teeth could touch, just not deeply.

I had so much fun spinning the first few rolads of pale grey that I dug around in the my stash to find something else to hand card into rolags. This is deep green, purple, wine merino, dyed by me 160g. At the base of the bag the fibre is more  black and green, at the top more wine and teal. I have no idea how I will ply it yet, but I plan to spin long draw.

And this little project, a hat, knit in the Knit one below style developed by  Elise Duvekot. The knitters study group project this month was Knit one below, which I have done not once but  twice before. I wanted to knit socks, but two things worried me, having enough yarn, I had 50 of the grey green and 100g of the variegated mauve, and fit. Elise recommends yarn with lycra or elastic fibres as being great for Knit one below socks, and I didn't have any yarn with lycra and didn't want to knit baggy socks. So I switched to knitting a hat, using the garter strip as the 'cast-on' edge. I love the way the stripes transition from the garter to the body of the hat. In an effort to stop the hat colours being to regular I'm switching the variegated and plain columns at the pale section of the colour way repeat.

I'm hoping that when little cub comes back from her grandads she will let me post her current project. She is knitting Elijah, and it is such a clever little project. The increases and decreases are all planned very carefully so the knitter knows exactly where and how to pick up stitches for the body, the legs, the arms, the ears and the trunk curls up a little because it has extra decreases to shape it upwards.

Take care
Knit lots, or spin, try long draw ... even
na Stella

Getting back to unfinished projects

Todays post has two parts, I have a much better image of the finished Teosinte socks, and a languishing project has been dug out of the workbasket and ..... worked on. I also discovered that I had completely missed the start of the Tour de Fleece, the annual self paced spinning event that accompanies the Tour de France. I had signed up .. but somehow wasn't at the start line on the day. I guess that happens some times with the cycling tour, people miss the start.  I'm wondering if my Tour becomes a clearing of the work basket  - with the rest of the time devoted to working on unfinished projects.

Teosinte socks all done and blocked

It is daylight here, Wednesday, and Winter, so daylight is between 9am and 4 pm. Well I might exaggerate a little, but before 9am and after 4 there isn't enough light to make good photos, and I am torn between pulling the curtains and putting the lights on or sitting in the dusk. Some how it just seems wrong to pull the curtains and turn the lights on so early ... but if I want to read, or sew or do anything detail-ish - that is what I have to do.
Teosinte is a lovely sock, and makes the most of a yarn that is more stripy than semi-solid. I like it. 

With the sock off the needles, and the grey cardigan caught in the endless loop of rows between the armscye (fancy tailoring name for arm pit) and the waist ... I dug around in the Work in Progress basket for something to finish. There are plenty of things there, gloves, fish, and a colour work beret. The Gloves won out - so between last night and now I have worked 6 rounds. I'm impressed, I was able to work out just where in the chart I was thanks to the highlighter tape I was using. I opened my workbook page and there the next round was ready marked and easy to spot. There are 13 rounds to work before I divide for the fingers, at which point I get to decide if I am making fingerless gloves, or gloves. Right now I'm not even sure I will make a second, so the decision seems even the more difficult. I've never had gloves that really fitted, I have long fingers, and most commercial gloves have short stubby fingers and leave me with glove-webbing at the base of each finger. I'm tempted to make these as gloves - just to see if I can make gloves that do fit.

Next post I might have a new sock started, littlest cub admired the Tardis socks I knit for elder cub and requested some of her own. Then again  I might have fingers and thumbs, on a glove . .. who knows? The excitement of indecision, this must be why I keep knitting.

Stella

The Take-2 post

Another quick post, seems I have run out of hours again this weekend. I've just returned from a a bit of a rush around town for things. Standard stuff like a new floor mop and handle, guiding the cubs towards something that Bear would actually like for his birthday, and that they can afford. Doing the same for me, except I have a slightly higher budget and have known him a little longer. Finishing by attending a fantastic talk by Douglas Lloyd Jenkins titled Inside the Victorian Gentleman's Wardrobe. All in all a fast and fun day, but leaving little time to sit and blog. Expecially when I have a new book on the New Zealand penchant for the colour black to read.

So -- quickly, there is yarn, or part yarn, I've been spinning a little more and now have two different yarns on two different bobbins to ply. There is also knitting progress, on the Sanquhar glove, which was frogged some weeks ago and sent to the back of the knit basket to languish while I worked on more fun things. So this is the take-2 post, my second go at woolen spinning, my second go at the Sanquhar mitts.

 This is yarn spun Woolen style, as opposed to worsted style. I was quite taken by the Faux Rolags that were presented in a recent spin off so used that technique to prepare this multi-coloured fibre for spinning. Then finding I had rolags I thought it best to maybe spin them Woolen, so I dug out my Abby Franquemont video and tried to do as Abby does, spin all relaxed and easy but for now there is a whole lot of trust in the process. I am trusting that Abby is right when she says that worsted yarn is made in the singles. That the character of the singles set the character of worsted yarn, but that woolen yarn's character comes from the plying. I hope so - because this is thick and thin and variable and I'm trusting plying will even it out. The variation aside I did relax into the spinning and loved the difference way in which woolen spinning is done, more relaxing - more flow, less micromanaging. I can see that I will be looking out for more yarn to turn into mini faux rolags so I can practice woolen  little more. I'm almost sad that I have a basket of pale blue diz'd roving ready and waiting for the wheel.

Saturday was KSG - Knitters Study Group, part two of the Sanquhar mitts. Mine had been banished to the frog pond and abandoned since soon after the last meeting. Friday I dug mine out and worked the gusset increases for the thumb, on Saturday I finished the gusset and once home worked the first wee section of the hand. This time my gauge is perfect, 26 stitches in 2" !

Looks good and fits well.
Must go .. I hear a pot lid trembling, the vegy soup must need attention.

na Stella

Gauge you say, get gauge or risk frogging

Intellectually I know that gauge matters, I know that if my stitches take up less or more room than the ones in the pattern then what I'm making won't be the  size the item in the pattern is supposed to be. I know this, I've taught this, and I've made decisions based on the gauge before. I've weighed up the implications of calculating gauge - and at times decided not to. Gauge has always been a considered decision in my knitting, if the size of the finished article didn't really matter, I felt free to ignore any gauge recommendations and to knit to a tension that suited me, my knit style and the yarn. If the article could be modified as it was worked, like a top down sweater or knit to fit hot water bottle cover - there usually is no need to calculate gauge. After all in those cases knowing the exact number of stitches per inch wasn't part of making and shaping my knitting, those decisions were much more fluid and impetuous.

 Mostly I can knit, and fit and make and things turn out fine .. but these Sanquhar gloves are not working out like most of my knitting. This time I don't have gauge - and no I didn't do a gauge swatch. I swatch along the lines of my favorite knitting guru's, like Elizabeth Zimmerman, who start the project and then a few inches in measure the gauge or fit the knitting to see if it is the right size or gauge. I completely agree with EZ's sentiments that working a gauge swatch is not as exciting as knitting something you will wear and so the first few inches of whatever you are knitting can in themselves be the gauge swatch.That is what I did this time. And the first few inches were fine, I tried on the glove and the wrist fit ... well ... like a glove should. So I kept knitting. I assumed all was well - and it wasn't.

 Now I'm at the point of dividing up for the fingers, and I've worked the thumb gusset, and I find that my Sanquhar glove is roomy. There is a good inch and a half, or 4cm on one side of extra fabric and room.

 And extra fabric and room on the other side. I've trouble shooted all the obvious things, the pattern calls for only one size of needle, the size that gives you gauge. That means I didn't forget to switch from the cuff needle to the glove needle size - as it is all knit on the same size needle. There are increases in the stitch count between the cuff and the palm, but only increasing 3 stitches - so not a great change in size from adding three stitches.

So that only left to check my gauge,and I did. My gauge is way off as I knit the palm but was spot on or even too tight as I knit the cuff. Not surprisingly as the cuff is corrugated ribbing and the palm stocking stitch - I can understand how each would have a slightly different tension. I have 20.8 stitches in 2 inches and to knit something to fit my hand I should have 27 or maybe 25 stitches in 2 inches. As result my glove is 20% larger than it should be.
Now I'm knitting on size 1.75mm needles, that is a US size of #00, or a UK size of 15. Those are small needles, and it looks like I'm going to have to drop to a size 1.5mm or 1.25mm (not sure I have a set of those) to get gauge.
My other option is to knit tighter ... and I'm not sure that I can do that consistently for the rest of the glove, and for a second glove.

I love the colours, the brown grey with the pink, and the look of these. So tonight I will frog, back to the cuff and wind up the two yarns into butterflies to tuck into their respective balls of yarn. Then I will contemplate my options and I'll let you know after the weekend what direction I have taken.

In behind all of this is a sense of rising excitement at the Unwind event this weekend, starting with attendees being invited to join the Take Back the Knit group for social knitting Thursday (tomorrow), and a day off work Friday so I can fully participate for the entire weekend. I'm not sure how blogging will go ... but hope to have lots to report next week.

Take care
Knit some - where ever you are, and maybe even consider checking the gauge, just maybe, if the fit might be important.  
Stella

The post with gloves, sewing and a new ukelele

Things have been busy here, Unwind is next weekend which means a slight panic all round. Not a mad panic, but a slow ordered got-to-make-sure-that-things-are-in-order kind of controlled panic. Now I'm not organizing Unwind, I am unwinding, and along with smallest cub,  teaching two classes, and taking one. That means getting organized for three classes, so I've been sorting and stacking, things for this class, things for that class, and things for the other class in yet another pile. I've also been volunteering as a general helper if and when needed - so there have a few chores as part of that. Today I've got an update on the Sanquhar gloves, which are coming along nicely and quicker than anticipated, a new sock club installment which came with my new favorite knit tool, I'll show you my volunteer project for Unwind, and there is a new ukelele and with it a new word - purfling. All in all a busy weekend.

My Sanquhar gloves are growing surprisingly quickly, for something knit in colour work and at a fine gauge. Around 10:30 last night I reached the point of dividing up for the fingers and decided that was a task best left for another day. The wrist fits beautifully, but the palm seems loose. That may be the result of the straight dpns/needles distorting the fabric, or it maybe the stitch count being reliant on multiples of 13. I'm holding off making any decisions on this, but know that given it is pink and grey Bear is unlikely to welcome them even if his paws are larger than mine.

This kit arrived during the week, the latest installment of the Vintage Purls 2012 Summer club, I've not done the purple justice, its richer and purpler than this. Truly this is one of those purples that even those who don't really get purple like  - I lost count of the number of comments along the lines of 'well I don't really do purple, but this purple is the kind I can do'. 

 I have a new toy, the wee special treat in the last Vintage Purls sock club,with it I can highlight the line of chart I am knitting.

And when I've knit that line I can move the tape to another line - easily.

This is my new favorite knit tool, highlighter tape. I guess that most of you already know about this stuff, but I'm still underlining in pencil and occasionally using yellow highlighter pen or a 3M sticky post it. The best bit is that the tape isn't even sticky - it seems to be that clever cling plastic rather than traditional sticky tape so there is not sticky residue left behind and it stays clingy. I am indebted to Morag for discovering this in Julia's knit kit and sourcing enough to supply knit-clubbers.

One of my volunteer roles at Unwind is helping the the swap shop, a table where one can trade the  yarn one owns but no longer loves for credits that can then be used to 'purchase' yarn traded in by others. The Swap-shop needed a sign and this is it, a quilted banner to drape across the front of the table, the fabric is a remnant of a Liberty Print, Melbury in colour way D. Finishing this let me tick of another thing on my to-do list.

Lastly there is a new Uke in the house, little cub has been playing Ukelele for 3 years, all the time on the same pink cheap lacquered soprano ukelele. Initial cost was $20, and while we had invested in a tuner and a custom bag, it remained a little cheap uke. Elder cub has returned to his guitar and so we are shopping around for a guitar to fit his five foot ten inch frame, his last one was bought when he was 9, and much shorter.  As we toured the music shops of Dunedin I became aware that there was more to the Ukelele world than cheap toy versions, and that little cub who has plucked away under her own steam for three years could also do with an upgrade. We are still negotiating with the elder cub the  details of the guitar,  so far no pick up, steel or nylon strings as yet undecided, Bear wants one made in Canada or Spain, Cub wants a cutaway body ..... its a whole new world to me, and a whole new set of terms. In the meanwhile we have splurged on a new uke for little cub, a Lanikai Flame Maple Tenor with real abalone purfling. Sounds much more mellow and full than the wee pink soprano uke it replaces. We figure this kind of spending replaces the large game station that we will never buy for them.

Purfling - now that is a word that I could use to describe my knitting, in some dictionaries its a ruffled or curved ornamental band - in others an ornamental border or edging. Now I think I'm  looking for a project to purf ...... I'm sure Morag just finished a cardigan with a Purfled band ..... Purfling is nice in the right places.

take care
na Stella

I said that there would be a new project

 this post, and I was right, a new pair of gloves. The spurs for this was the the Knitters study group, where meetings are very formally informal, classes are ever 5 weeks thereabouts, and the curriculum for the year is set at the start. Project lessons focus on particular traditions, styles or details of knitting. The previous classes have been on lots of different things like ribbing, Fair-Isle style colourwork, lace, cables, Peruvian hats, intarsia in the round, socks, mittens, reversible cables, slipped stitch paterns, ... all manner of things. This class is the first of two on Sanquhar mitts. When  I have time I like to do a little prep for the class, google the knitting technique or style, and look in my knitting library for any hints or projects or inspirations.

I liked what I found, especially the more modern adaptations of the Sanquhar knitting style, like TomofHollands pencil clase, and the ones with the QR code on the palm (scroll down, and as a scarf with mitts (I nearly bought this one as well but queued it instead), I also found info about the tradition and history of the mittens, about how they were hand made often to order, with the customers intitials knit into the palm side of the cuff. There are some amazing image resources at various collections online sites, Future Museum South West Scottland, and even as part of the BBC History of the world site. I liked the pattern by Beth Rinsel Brown called Compass Rose Gloves.

This is me a bare 24 hours after the class finished with the beginning of the left glove. Most of the class are working a fingerless mitt, at a larger gauge but I love that the class allows for customization of the project. In class I managed two repeats of the corrugated cuff pattern. Like all colour work this is addictive, I just want to knit one more repeat, or the first bit after the cuff or the year, and then the set up for the compass and rose pattern. The yarn is vintage Vintage Purls sock, so not superwash making it ideal for colourwork. The darker yarn is Slippery Jim, a dark grey not as brown as this shows, and the other is Now-We-Are-Two, from the birthday party celebrations of the Vintage Purls Toddler bash (when her company turned two).

The needles are teeny tiny ones, Susan Bates, sock needles, a set of five in shiny pink sized US00 or 1.75mm. Yes .... teeny tiny, and in the Susan Bates set there are four sets of five needles, 1.5mm, 1.75mm, 2mm, and 25mm. Apparently the pattern for children's, small women's, women's, small men's and men's is all the same, cast on 90 stitches, and the different sizes are achieved by using smaller or larger needles. I love the effect of the teeny tiny (sorry just like repeating that the needles are teeny tiny) needles on the gauge, here I have 30 stitches in 2.5 inches (give or take - its not being blocked yet but fits neatly). The fabric is smooth and fairly dense, I can see how these would be warm and hard-wearing, and I love the detail  - that the letters are able to have serifs and shape rather than being blocky and modern.

The Deciduous shawl is up to 20 repeats, and I've got my head around the twin tension systems of the Aura wheel ... but knowing that is so different from knowing how that I'm still struggling to put my intellectual knowledge into practice when I use it. I suspect the Aura is more wheel than I'll ever need, but she is an absolutely amazing wheel, and if I was to buy my 'one-good-wheel' all over again - I suspect an Aura would be in the running.

well - off to see if I can complete a repeat or two of the rose and compass, and finish the thumb gusset. Colour work and gloves -- all those small bits that one can tick off makes for a nice sense of achievement with a project like this.

Take care
na Stella